He shakes his head. “No, why would I ask you to do that?”
“You just seem like you hate this.”
“Hate what?”
“Having to sit here with me.”
His eyes go wide, and for a second, he looks like a deer caught in headlights. Then his shock fades and he shakes his head. “It’s not you.” He lets out a laugh that seems forced. “It’s other people.”
“Is it?” I press.
He leans in. “Can you not smell the lack of deodorant here? All I’m catching is onion salad.”
Frowning, I take a deep breath of air only to pick up exactly what he’s talking about. It’s the middle of summer and it’s hot, but having that much BO is a crime against humanity.
“Oh, God.” I cover my mouth. “Why would you draw my attention to that?”
“You asked.”
“I’m gonna breathe as little as possible.” I shake my head. “It’s the only way I’ll survive.”
The bus ride takes way too long to get to our destination, andI’m considering jumping out of the window to save myself by the time we pull into the ruins site.
Nate and I are nearly heaving when we get off the bus.
“It’s burned into my nostrils,” I say.
“I need ten showers.” He shakes his head. “Horrible.”
“And we’re stuck with them for the tour,” I mutter. “Think this place gives out deodorant as a welcome gift?”
Nate looks around. We’re in the middle of a parking lot surrounded by tall vegetation. I haven’t seen civilization for far too long. “Somehow, I doubt they do that out here.”
“At least it’ll be pretty,” I say. Everyone from the tour is walking through a tree-covered path, and I motion for Nate to follow me. We meet up with a tour guide, who promises to tell us everything we need to know about the ruins. People listen intently.
Nate zones out about five minutes into our walk. Our tour guide is telling us the history of the area. He’s decently engaging, but Nate hates listening to someone talk for too long. In high school, he preferred teaching himself rather than sitting in class.
He’s putting on a good show, though. Nate is looking in the general direction of the tour guide, but his eyes are glassy and I can tell he’s somewhere else in his mind. I can follow just fine, but I’m more worried about him having fun too.
My hand closes around his arm and his eyes go wide. “What are you doing?” he asks.
I immediately take my hand away, trying not to think too hard about the alarm in his voice. I jerk my head to a path behind us and start walking.
“Is this where you drag me off to kill me?” he asks.
“No. This is where we do something else.”
“Why would we do something else? You were enjoying that.”
“And you weren’t.” I cross my arms. “This place is cool, but I doubt you’re gonna give a flying fuck about ruins if you’re bored. So let’s go find some and look up the history ourselves.”
“Our phones won’t workout here.”
I pause. “Oh, well. I didn’t think of that.”
He laughs. “But the gift shop might have something for us to use. Come on.” I perk up and follow him. We make it a few feet before he pauses. “Oh, and berry?”
“Yeah?”
